Marvel: ‘Loki’ Episode 3 Review

Screenshot of Tom Hiddleston in ‘Loki’. Copyright goes to Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

Episode 3 gave us something a little bit different than what we’ve seen in ‘Loki’ so far. Instead of spending most of our time in the TVA, this episode used distance from the TVA to expand on the characters and the mystery we’re seeing unfold. Once again, we saw a lot in this episode. And a lot of it was character development. With so much to cover, let’s jump into this review! SPOILERS ahead! You’ve been warned!

What I Liked:

Loki: I’m going to start this off with the most exciting thing to come out of this episode. Loki was confirmed as bisexual! When Sylvie asks him if he’s had any princesses or princes in his life, he answers that he’s had a bit of both. The series creator, who is bisexual herself, confirmed that this line was a very purposeful reveal of his sexuality. She also noted that his sexuality is, and will remain, an incredibly important part of his character. This makes Loki the very first queer character in the MCU. It’s taken way too long for this to happen in the MCU, but I’m still incredibly happy they finally embraced this part of Loki. On an unrelated note, Loki gets a bit tipsy and starts singing in this episode. I didn’t know I wanted to hear Loki sing before this episode, but it ended up being one of my favorite parts of the entire thing. Tom Hiddleston has a very good voice. While it was fun to see Loki letting loose and reveling in the attention he was getting, which is very Loki, there was a specific part of the performance where he seemed to be sizing up Sylvie. At parts of this episode I started to wonder whether or not he was testing her in some way to see if she was really a version of him. Strangely, Loki ended up being the most level-headed between himself and Sylvie. While a major cause of his level-headedness could be that he still wants Sylvie on his side to take down the timekeepers, he was still the first one to attempt to end an argument, suggest a truce, or provoke a friendly conversation. And some of these conversations seemed to be sly ways of getting information. Such as speaking about his adoption and his mother to her so she would feel compelled to give him some information as well. He even managed to get information out of her about the way her magic works. While I do think Loki is starting to trust and enjoy the company of Sylvie, I wouldn’t doubt he has another plan in mind while he’s concocting hilarious schemes to annoy her.

Sylvie: I didn’t like Sylvie at all by the end of the last episode. Her maliciousness didn’t match up to the sly mischievousness Loki usually displays. Not only that, but her complete dismissal of Loki made their altercation a bit less interesting than I initially anticipated. This episode shows a completely new side to Sylvie. She has a shorter temper than Loki, but her wit matches Loki’s completely. So much so that their banter was one of the most enjoyable things about the episode. Sylvie is also impressive. She taught herself her own magic, having grown up without the influence of Frigga. And rather than being distracted by pleasurable detours, which often catch Loki’s attention, she’s been stubbornly persistent in a plan lasting several years to take down the TVA. She loathes the TVA for reasons unknown. She even refuses to be called Loki. Which makes a kind of sense. Viewing the TVA as a completely tyrannical organization, it’s only fitting that she takes on another identity that doesn’t align with the Loki of the main timeline. If she is Loki, that is. But Loki or not, her slowly developing friendship with Loki is endearing. She went from hating his guts to trusting him enough to help her get through the destruction of an entire moon. I can’t wait to see her open up more.

The New Information: In this episode Sylvie revealed that all of those working for the TVA are regular variants from various timelines. While Sylvie may not have proved herself completely trustworthy yet, there isn’t really arguing with this statement. We saw her meddle with the memories of one of the TVA agents, and these memories could have only come from a past beyond the TVA. Which means Mobius’ belief that he was created by the timekeepers is a mix of propaganda and brain washing. Even Loki seems concerned by this news. To top it all off, Miss Minutes tweeted a few very positive tweets after the airing of this episode assuring viewers that the workers in the TVA enjoy their work and the jobs they were created for. There’s something very wrong with the TVA.

What I Have Questions About:

Is Sylvie Really Lady Loki?: It isn’t unrealistic to assume that Marvel simply merged the characters of Sylvie and Lady Loki from the comics. While I want to see Loki embrace his gender fluidity and turn into Lady Loki, I can see why making Lady Loki into an alternate version of Loki named Sylvie might be desirable to differentiate the characters. But I’m still not completely sold on the idea that Sylvie is a Loki variant. She might be. But Loki still seems suspicious and she hasn’t proven herself enough for my guard to be completely down. And I don’t think the possibility that she may be Enchantress is completely off the table yet, either. So who is she?

What is the TVA Hiding?: The TVA is outright brainwashing the people who work for them and basically holding them captive for hundreds of years to do what they want. Why do they need this much labor? Why are they obsessed with keeping only one main timeline? Who are the timekeepers and what are their real goals? Or, as Loki suspects, are the timekeepers fictional? There’s something very dark going on in the TVA and there’s only three episodes left to unravel it all.

Where’s Mobius?: I didn’t realize just how much I loved Mobius until he was absent from this entire episode. He’s precious. He’s the best disgruntled dad. He works so well with Loki. I miss him. And with Miss Minutes tweeting about potential consequences Mobius may face for losing Loki, I’m kind of worried about him. If he’s not in the next episode I’ll be very upset.

This was probably the most sci-fi this series has gotten so far and it was satisfying. Between the alien train, the abandoned town that was very reminiscent of ‘Borderlands’, and the entire city being affected by the destruction of a moon, this episode felt like a love letter to all of the sci-fi entertainment I’ve enjoyed. I can’t wait to see what other planets and timelines Loki will get to explore once he gets off of the planet he stranded himself and Sylvie on. Maybe Mobius will rescue them!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

BTS: Run BTS Episode 143

Screenshot from ‘Run BTS’ episode 143 of Min Yoongi (Suga). Copyright goes to HYBE Entertainment and BTS.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I feel like every time I’m all set up to post some wholesome BTS content, there’s some fan war happening on Twitter. So I’ll address that briefly because I’d rather get back to the wholesomeness. Yes, there were some Blinks who said some absolutely awful things on Twitter. But you should never blame a celebrity or group for the behavior of some of their fans. I am personally not a Blink, but that’s just because I don’t vibe with their music as much. Just report the accounts that were saying this awful stuff, absolutely call out solo stan behavior, and then move on. It’s ok to be angry, but there’s no reason to blame the entire group for this behavior. Let’s just support our boys and keep going! With that aside, this is the second week of ‘Run BTS’ being back everyone! The first episode was absolutely cute, but it was also a fairly regular cooking episode. This one was so cute and so funny! And with all the cute stuff that happened in this episode in particular, I couldn’t not talk about it! This episode saw the boys making up children’s stories; their process was hilarious and the result was cute. They were separated into two groups that turned into three (or maybe four), so I’ll talk about each group singularly. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Jimin and Namjoon:

This group initially consisted of Jimin, Namjoon, and Taehyung; but eventually Taehyung went off on his own because of artistic differences. Jimin and Namjoon together came up with the story of a cloud protector that villagers take for granted. While the cloud attempts to protect people in the world from the unforgiving rays of the sun, the villagers in the world view him as a villain when they notice that he is covering up the sun. After they tell him to leave they experience an extreme lack of water and the heat burns their skin, causing them to plead with the cloud to come back and protect them. The cloud, who felt very sad before, is happy to go back to his former position as the protector of the earth. The story was very cute and Jimin’s drawings were adorable, though Jimin did say that he planned on making more but his hand became too numb to draw any more. They spent most of the time either creating the story or chipping in to help other people, as it didn’t take them long to figure out their plot.

Jin and Jungkook:

This group originally consisted of Jin, Jungkook, and Hobi. But after Hobi noticed that Tae needed help with his singular story, he left to help Tae instead. Jin was the main brain behind the story and originally pitched two different ideas. One of them being the story of a hot dog that creates a diary as he is being digested and then eventually becomes the fertilizer for a hot dog tree. (Which Jimin pointed out would be litter not fertilizer.) But everyone, including the members not in the group, felt that it would not be a great book for children. So they went with his original idea of a boy who only has one strand of hair and travels around in search of more hair only to realize that his hair is precious the way it is. This story accompanied by the illustrations of Jungkook ended up being something that actually looked very publishable. Jungkook’s illustrations were nothing short of adorable and hilarious, especially when he drew tears welling up in the main character’s eyes. The best part of this was watching Hobi try to water down some of Jin’s weirder ideas while Jungkook looked between them, beaming.

Taehyung and Hoseok:

Tae was originally in Jimin and Namjoon’s group. But while Jimin and Namjoon were listening to other members’ ideas and trying to find a story amongst themselves, Tae was writing out an entire plot. But by the time Tae shared his plot, Namjoon was already, understandably, pretty set on what he and Jimin came up with. Jimin wanted to be supportive, so he encouraged Tae to use his own idea despite that. Tae was originally supposed to be in a group by himself, but he was still having troubles with the story and was especially finding it difficult drawing anything. That’s when Hobi felt sorry for him and decided to join Tae’s group because he didn’t feel like he could do much in his own group with Jin in charge of the story and Jungkook drawing. They weren’t able to draw anything with what they put together last minute, but Hobi was happy to act out the story and do all the sound effects and voices. Tae created a story about a fairy who had no friends so decided to create some of her own, but eventually realizes that she needs heart for her friendships to succeed so gives a little bit of heart to her friends. I’m not sure if Hobi drew the pictures we see by the end of the episode, but he was listed as illustrator. And Jungkook did draw a picture for them of a fairy with a chiseled jaw after they all found it funny to have Hobi use a deep voice for the fairy character.

Yoongi:

Towards the end of the episode the members decided that they were going to try to get Yoongi in on the activities with either assigning him book reports or having him read their stories aloud later. The staff asked whether or not they thought they could get Yoongi to do this, to which Jimin responded that he would call Yoongi because he said he specialized in getting Yoongi to do things. I just about died of cuteness. They ended up calling up Yoongi on camera who actually immediately agreed to it all without having to be convinced. We then got footage of him much later in his new Genius Lab in the brand new HYBE building where he read all of the stories aloud. Not only did we get a really good look at his space (including his really high quality drum set that confirms that Yoongi plays piano, guitar, and drums which basically makes him the shy artistic second lead from a K-drama which absolutely kills me), but his reading of the stories was definitely not taken lightly. He did voices for every character and he did it so well it made me want to cry. The cuteness level here was off the charts!

This episode also included hilarious and cute moments like Hobi being confused that they were separating evenly into two groups because he forgot Yoongi wasn’t there. And, of course, Jin not knowing what to say when he was asked to name three children’s stories with wolves in them so naming ‘Twilight’ as one. I know I keep saying this, but it is seriously one of the cutest ‘Run BTS’ episodes to come out. I just know I’m going to return to Yoongi reading those stories. And if there was any day for them to come out with one of the most wholesome episodes of this show, it’s definitely today! We all need the comfort and togetherness.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

BTS: The Best ‘Butter’ Performances We’ve Seen So Far

Screenshot of Kim Namjoon from the ‘Butter’ music video. Copyright goes to BTS and the HYBE Corporation.

Hey! Hallie here!

BTS’s single ‘Butter’ has stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four consecutive weeks! This is the longest they’ve stayed at the top, and if they stay there for another week, they’ll beat a record previously set by Aerosmith. In celebration of this amazing news, I’m looking back at all of the ‘Butter’ performances we’ve seen so far! All of them have been pretty great (Mostly, I’ll get into that later), but there have definitely been a few that stand out more than the others. The title of this post may be referencing performances, but I’m counting everything for this list minus the original music video. So here’s my list of the best ‘Butter’ performances I’ve seen!

‘Butter (Hotter Remix)’:

Let’s start with the first alternative we got for the music video, the ‘Hotter Remix’. This remix’s video consisted of a bunch of footage shot during the shooting of the original music video. Because of this, there aren’t really new looks we can talk about here. It’s all original ‘Butter’ looks. But the absolute silliness of this video gives us enough to focus on by itself. For this performance we saw Jimin fall out of his chair, alerting everyone to the crash including the currently-singing Tae, some of Yoongi’s signature dance moves, and Jin, Jimin, and Jungkook practically yelling their verses with strange head movements as emphasis. To top it all off we also received a sweet moment between Hoseok and Namjoon where Hoseok’s hype-man skills ended in an adorably genuine smile from our president. I can’t say that this remix is my favorite remix that I’ve heard. I’m not a huge fan of some of the voice effects used in it. Despite that, It doesn’t ever dissuade me from watching this performance. I could watch it on loop just for the chaotic energy.

Billboard Music Awards:

Here’s an actual classic performance. This one specifically gets a shout out because of continuity. The performance starts out with Jungkook in his jean ‘Dynamite’ outfit. He walks away from the camera and comes back in dressed in a black suit. The more dramatic look signifies the entrance of a new era. All of the other members are dressed in various black ensembles as well, each with some sort of detailing that gives them a silvery shine or sparkle. I think my favorite piece here is Taehyung’s suit jacket, which has a silver sparkle effect filling nearly half of both his sleeves. Their voices are incredible here, as is the dancing. This was also the first time I saw the full choreography so Hoseok’s dance break in particular blew me away. I loved that this dance break was performed with a spotlight, leaving the back members in shadow. It added an interesting layer to the choreography. They came out swinging for this one and it really set the tone for their other ‘Butter’ performances.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:

This performance was prefaced with an already hilarious skit where BTS demonstrated some new hand gestures. This skit showed us Jimin using his fingers to demonstrate walking, running, riding a pogo stick, and running after someone who stole your pogo stick, as well as Taehyung’s adorable statement, “fear the double bunny”. When it comes to the performance itself, if you liked the Billboard performance, you’ll like this one too. The looks in this performance are another set of dark suits, but these are more classic. The stand out for this look was Hobi, who had his hair pushed back and a few less buttons done on his shirt. The setting for this performance was also gorgeous. The mansion background included plush antique couches, artwork lining the walls, and ornate, golden chandeliers. This performance also used the spotlight effect for the dance break, except some extra light coming from behind the pillars in the back, and the gorgeous blue and white detailed flooring, made the ambiance just a bit more breathtaking here. At the end of this performance they also fill out the dancing with some back up dancers which is satisfying. And, of course, who doesn’t like the gold confetti to finish it off?

‘Butter’ Karaoke:

This variation of ‘Butter’ was released today and it didn’t disappoint. This video has all of the members singing the song with karaoke mics and crazy hats, wigs, and props. In some shots you can see the members all together, but they do separate into different groups. These groups are Taehyung with Hoseok, Jin and Jimin with Yoongi, and Namjoon with Jungkook. The outfits here are the track suits from the original music video, but the accessories hilariously change the way they look. Tae and Hoseok add some antennas and a bow respectively to add to their outfits. There’s a large portion of time where nearly all the members are wearing BT21 hats depicting the characters they created. Jimin switches from a headband with light up glasses to a chick hat with light up glasses. I will say my favorite crazy accessories were Namjoon’s and Jungkook’s, who decided to wear matching pink wigs and sunglasses. Jungkook and Namjoon enjoyed singing the song at one another while Jimin kneeled on the floor and held up whatever microphones he had available to Jin and Yoongi. And, of course, Tae and Hobi busted out the chaotic dance moves. If any performance of ‘Butter’ describes BTS, it’s this one.

Dishonorable Mention: Good Morning America

For some frustrating reason, Good Morning America decided to frequently cut away from BTS during their performance. Mid-verse the camera would cut away from the members to some buildings in the city area. Because that’s exactly what I came to see when I heard BTS was going to perform ‘Butter’ on the show. This even happened during the dance break. When, you know, it’s kind of important to watch what the members are doing. I don’t know who decided on the cut aways, but they shouldn’t be trusted with something like this again.

So those are the ‘Butter’ performances I’ve loved so far! Congratulations to BTS and to all the US Armys who have been working their asses off to keep them at number one. Let’s keep going so we can break that record! Stream ‘Butter’!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: F4

Promotional image of (from left) Kim Joon, Kim Bum, Lee Minho, and Kim Hyunjoong from ‘Boys Over Flowers’. Copyright goes to KBS and Group 8.

Hi! It’s Annie!

My opinion of ‘Boys Over Flowers’ has changed exponentially since I watched it the first time. When I first watched it, it was much more difficult for me to get through it. The campiness was jarring for me at first and it took me such a long time to get used to the main characters specifically. And now this has to be one of my favorite shows of all time. I think it took my second watch of the entire series for me to fully appreciate it. One of my favorite things about this show is how lighthearted and fun it is. And it’s really hard to find another show with relationships between the characters like this. It’s shows like this that really make you want to be friends with all the characters and go to all the places that they’re going to as well. But, of course, there’s no better friend group in this show than the F4. This is the quintessential friend group in the show and one of the most notable friend groups on television in general. They are part of the intrigue of the show, and one of the major functions within it that keeps everything afloat. I would definitely argue that F4 is the best part of BOF. So, I figured I would make an entire post about why they are all so great.

JunPyo:

The leader of the group and also the most prone to dramatics. It took me by far the longest to get used to him and even longer to like him. And though I still can’t stand him towards the beginning of the show, he has won me over over time. Though not as much as some of the other characters. The good thing about him is how much character development he got throughout the series. Watching him at the very beginning of the show is worlds different than watching him at the very end. Though I do have to say, on my third rewatch that I’m currently doing he does try to forcibly kiss Jandi more than I remembered he did. And though it is difficult to overlook all of that, he does become a much better person. JunPyo is shown actively working on himself to become more responsible. By the end of the show, he’s almost an entirely different person. He’s also super fun to watch and can be really cute sometimes. Over-all, he’s not as bad as I thought he was.

JiHoo:

One of my favorite characters in the series and one of the characters that marked the beginning of my second lead syndrome. JiHoo is by all accounts the nice guy to the bad boy of JunPyo. But the best part is neither fall very well into these tropes at all. JunPyo is more of an insecure brat who has to learn to be more courteous than a typical “bad boy” character. JiHoo, in the same vein, isn’t always nice in the way you would think. JiHoo is consistently sarcastic and very introverted. While the typical “nice guy” is generally seen as very sweet and extroverted, most would argue that JiHoo is definitely more introverted than JunPyo. He spends much of his days sleeping and often likes to be alone. Though he is, admittedly, very kind and sweet. JiHoo also gets his own character development in the form of backstory about his family and a specific friend from his past. Through this he learns to come out of his shell and be more confident in himself. And he’s definitely the most trustworthy and supportive character in the entire show.

WooBin:

The often forgotten member of the F4 for absolutely no reason because he’s absolutely amazing. I’ve seen people say that the F4 would function the same without him, but I really can’t agree with that. WooBin serves some very important purposes within the group and he has some of the most surprising character development in the entire show. WooBin is probably JunPyo’s biggest sounding board of the F4. When JunPyo is having a rough time, a lot of the time it’s WooBin who’s there helping him. He’s also part of a duo with Yi Jung which would not be half as funny without him in it. On top of all of that, we find out that WooBin’s family is actually involved in what is essentially mafia practices. And this includes a vast knowledge of martial arts. Much of the time when a character needs saving, it’s WooBin that kicks the most ass. He’s one of the most nonchalant members of the F4 and he takes no shit. This group would not be even close to the same without him.

YiJung:

He is one of my favorite characters in the entire show, and I have already talked at length about him. I love his backstory and his romance with GaEul. While JunPyo goes through the most obvious change of everyone in the show, YiJung almost changes just as much. Or maybe he doesn’t at all and he just learns to be more honest with himself. Either way, YiJung starts out as the most womanizing character in the show and then realizes his actions are him trying to rebel against his father. It takes him a long time to learn to trust himself, never mind other people. His arc also includes one of the best character arcs I’ve ever seen for explaining depression. Still, he’s generally the member who’s the most willing to pull the group back together after fights and is probably also the most laid back. His sweetness is more understated than the others, but still undeniably there.

F4:

Not many friend groups are named and even less are that immediately recognizable. The F4 have a reputation, but they aren’t held together by it. It’s important to note that they’ve been friends for almost their entire lives and still remain close. Even when they do argue. JiHoo even backs off of JanDi because he knows JunPyo has a crush on her and they view each other like brothers. Even though JunPyo does not extend him the same courtesy. The four members of the group are equally close to each other and are very aware of each other’s change of moods and attitudes. In a way, they are one of the healthiest friend groups I’ve seen portrayed in media. At least, besides all the fighting over JanDi.

My main friend group actually consists of four people and we have now taken to jokingly calling ourselves the F4 after we noticed the similarities. I feel like this is one of the biggest successes of the F4 and even ‘Boys Over Flowers’ in general. The F4 have transcended the show because of how fun they are within the world of the show. It makes you want to have a friendship like that of your own. And all of the characters have something to relate to. My friend group talking about the F4 in conjunction with our own friend group is one of my favorite things to come out of watching ‘Boys Over Flowers’. The connections this show has allowed me to make within my own life is why it’s one of my favorite shows of all time now. And most of that is thanks to the F4.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: ‘Luca’ Review

Screenshot from ‘Luca’ (2021). Copyright goes to The Walt Disney Company and Pixar.

Hey! Hallie here!

Pixar’s newest film just came out and it isn’t behind a pay wall! While that might not feel the greatest for Pixar, who’s movie ‘Soul’ also came out without a pay wall despite the fact that ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ had one, it means it’s more accessible for a lot more people! I’m seeing somewhat mixed reviews for this film. While the general consensus seems positive, I see a lot of people quickly watering down their positive comments with the caveat that it doesn’t quite live up to expectations. And with Studio Ghibli as a major inspiration for ‘Luca’ (The name of the town is Portorosso after ‘Porco Rosso’), it does have a lot to live up to. So is it worth an immediate watch or is it a movie you could pass up without much thought? SPOILERS ahead!

The Good:

The Main Characters: This movie has an incredibly likable cast. Luca is our main character and he’s a joy to follow throughout the story. He starts out as a self proclaimed “good kid”. He’s cautious and unwilling to step outside his comfort zone. Unlike Ariel, he isn’t obsessed with the world above. He believes all of the horrible stories his parents tell him about the human world, or at least he’s unwilling to disobey them to figure out if they’re true. Until he meets Alberto. Alberto steals trinkets from human boats. The items lure Luca out onto land and then we get to see just how enthusiastically curious Luca is. He believes everything Alberto says about the world, even when his ideas are flawed, and he wants to learn more. The first full day he spends with Alberto he helps him build a complete Vespa replica simply because of how wondrous Alberto makes them seem. Alberto, for his part, is a bit conceited in his confidence. But he has a big heart and he’s happy to encourage Luca to become more confident as well. When Luca is nearly sent away by his parents, Alberto is quick to take him in and take Luca to the nearby town to hide out. This is where they meet our third main character, Guilia. Guilia is the most reasonable and resilient of the kids. Within her town she’s treated like she doesn’t belong because she only spends summers in Portorosso while living with her father. But she still enters in the major race that occurs in the town every summer and she’s determined to win it. The three kids bounce off of each other very well. I think my favorite thing about all of them is how realistic of kids they are. They speak like kids. Their excitement for things like riding bikes and reading books comes with an innocence that reflects kids very well. And they’re all flawed in ways that kids are. Luca wants so badly to feel accepted that he throws Alberto under the bus. Alberto gets in a fight with Ercole simply because he isn’t willing to walk away when his pride is in question. Guilia is so high energy that she has to apologize multiple times for being too fast to keep up with. I loved all of the characters, especially because of their flaws.

The Main Friendship: While Guilia is a main character, the main friendship is between Luca and Alberto. It’s actually a very complex relationship too. Luca becomes friends with Alberto because Alberto shows him how to leave his comfort zone and embrace his courage. And Luca likes that. In fact, he relies on it for the entire movie. Meanwhile, Alberto needs someone to hold him in place. He partly likes Luca because Luca isn’t the type of person to move on quickly. His dependence on Alberto means he can’t run off on his own. And Alberto needs that because his father abandoned him. While these aren’t the only reasons why they like each other, they display clear needs each of them seek in their friendship. The movie also displays that these needs can’t be completely fulfilled by people who have their own needs and wants. Alberto and Luca help each other find the places they feel they truly belong, but by the end of the movie it means they have to separate. Luca’s desire to continue pushing past his boundaries sees him going to school with Giulia. Meanwhile, Alberto’s anchor comes in the form of Guilia’s father, Massimo. The fact that they go their separate ways at the end of the movie is heartbreaking, but it’s so perfect for their friendship and their characters that I couldn’t help but feel satisfied when I saw it.

The Art: This isn’t your regular Pixar art. Not only is this movie intensely colorful, but it has a bit of a Studio Ghibli feel. Everything in the movie feels like it’s a sketch come to life. The detail in the natural scenery, and especially in the scaled look of the sea monsters, draws you in. There’s just something about this movie that makes it obvious the artists behind it had an amazing time creating it, and I see that most often in Studio Ghibli films.

Massimo: Just a big shoutout to this amazing father. He hunts sea monsters, but the instant he figures out that Luca and Alberto are sea monsters he stands behind them and starts eyeballing everyone with a harpoon. Why? Because they’re practically his kids and he cares for them. When Alberto goes missing he becomes so concerned that he goes out looking for him after dark. He starts eating pasta with his hands because that’s what Luca and Alberto do. And with his own daughter, he shows up to the race with a huge hand-made sign with her name on the front. Also, I have to point out how amazing it is to see this man born with one arm being shown as the most badass and capable person in the movie. We don’t see that enough.

The Bad:

The Possible LGBTQ+ Representation: Before this movie came out there was a lot of speculation that Luca and Alberto would wind up being queer, or at least queer coded. This was spread so much that the movie earned the fan-made title, ‘Pixar Call Me By Your Name’. I hesitate to say that the lack of any LGBTQ+ content is a major issue with this movie. The lack of LGBTQ+ content is a major issue with the entirety of Disney and this movie doesn’t cover romantic relationships at all. But I also can’t say it isn’t disappointing to see another movie go by without any LGBTQ+ representation. Especially because this movie’s sea monster issue resembles the hardships of the LGBTQ+ community so well. ‘Luca’s message is about embracing who you are and finding those who will accept you for your differences. And the hostile way the town of Portorosso treats sea monsters absolutely looks like the hostility directed at queer individuals. Even the scene where Alberto is revealed as a sea monster and Luca pretends to be disgusted by him out of fear feels painfully real. There was a good set up here but it was passed over. Again. And maybe this movie never intended to address LGBTQ+ issues, but it’s frustrating to see another opportunity passed by.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. And there’s no caveats here. Maybe it doesn’t live up to Studio Ghibli’s best, but that’s an incredibly high standard to hold a movie to. Maybe I wouldn’t say this is my favorite Pixar movie, but it’s up there. It doesn’t feel like a mediocre Pixar offering in the least. I’d even say it’s my favorite Pixar movie since ‘Coco’. I’d absolutely recommend watching this!

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: Imitation Episode 7

Promotional image of (from left) Park Yu-ri as Do-Jin, Choi Jongho as Hyuk, Lee Jun-young as Ryok, Hwiyoung as Lee-hyun, and Ahn Jeong-hun as Jae-woo. Copyright goes to KBS and Kakao Entertainment.

Hi! It’s Annie!

We are to the more than halfway mark in the show and this episode seemed to pick up. But the way it picked up only left me more confused. Every week I try to be positive about what happened in this week’s episode, and I’m not saying everything is awful. But I probably will say some similar things to what I have been saying. I was honestly worried that there would be nothing new to write about this week, but there were a few things. And this episode was better than some of the others. So let’s just get into it! As always, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The Good:

Hyuk and Dojin- I’ve said it before and I will say it again; these two are by far the best part of this show. I enjoy every moment that they’re on screen. Wherever Hyuk goes, Dojin is generally also there. They are the cutest comedy duo I have ever seen in a K-Drama and they both also have a lot of depth. Especially Hyuk. While Dojin is generally a little clueless, Hyuk has a lot of playful wisdom to him. And Jongho plays him absolutely perfectly. There was even a shot in this episode of Jongho leaning against a pole with wind blowing through his hair and it was the most beautiful thing in the entire episode. Jongho’s amazing abilities and general cuteness are making me rethink my entire ATEEZ bias list now. Again. Thanks a lot, Jongho. I would seriously watch a spin-off drama that was purely about Hyuk and Dojin.

The Acting- It gets better by the episode. I always have to give them all props, especially when some of them don’t act regularly and are just venturing into this for the first time.

The Emotion- I think this episode is the most that we’ve actually stopped in with the main characters. We see Maha get upset when Ryok is hospitalized. We see her go through every single emotion of that, from the sadness and doubt to the relief to the gratefulness she feels at him being alive. We also actually get to see how she feels towards Ryok. Throughout the entire episode they’re texting, which could have been boring and could have brought the story completely to a stand-still. Surprisingly, they were able to do the texting part of this episode really well. They used it entirely to single out both Maha and Ryok individually and give the audience a glimpse of how they’re feeling towards each other. We see how Maha is barely able to put her phone down but is worried about them being seen together. We also see how desperate Ryok is to have her in his life. More and more we see that Ryok has very little else to hold onto. This was a great first step in their relationship. I’ll get back to that later.

The Jun-Pyo Scene- I officially call all of these scenes the Jun-Pyo scene because that’s probably what popularized the use of scenes like this. On the off chance that you haven’t seen ‘Boys Over Flowers’, there’s a scene where Jun Pyo, the main male lead, pretends to be in a coma so that Jan Di, the main female lead, will profess her love for him. The prank works and everyone laughs at her afterwards. While Ryok was not exactly faking his injury here by any means; he does pretend to be asleep when Maha comes in and ends up hearing Maha profess her love for him and then reveals that he is, in fact, awake. However, the circumstances of the scene were very different in ways that I absolutely loved. For one, Ryok pretended to be asleep not to get Maha’s love confession, but because he had been practicing what to say to her and when she came in he was caught so off guard that he didn’t know what else to do. There are a couple times where we see Ryok struggle as he wonders what the right time to reveal to her that he’s awake is, and he looks very apologetic when he eventually has to reveal himself. It was a super cute and a bit less manipulative take on the trope. (No offense to ‘Boys Over Flowers’ which has become one of my favorite shows of all time.)

Sub-Plot Romance Development- It wasn’t with the romance that I though it would be, but I’ll take literally any plot development in this show. In two short scenes they’ve been able to set up the potential romance between Riah and Leehyun better than the potential romance between Yujin and Hyunji. Riah is not my favorite right now, which is unfortunate, but I love how much more we’re seeing of Leehyun. And I feel like there’s potentially hope here. I loved the way Leehyun was being teased about her too!

Shax- I always love seeing the bond between the members of Shax. There was a particularly funny scene in this episode where Ryok and Leehyun were attempting to awkwardly compare romantic stories. It was brief but amazing!

The Bad:

Sparkling- I am no longer sure what exactly the purpose of Sparkling as a group is. At this point Yujin could just be a solo artist and the story wouldn’t change at all. Even Hyunoh did nothing this episode. And from the trailer we got of next episode we’re probably barely going to see any of them again. We also barely got any Yujin this episode in general. His character has not moved forward at all and neither has Sparkling as a group.

Riah- I said in my review of the last episode that Riah had been mostly reduced to the status of the trope-y protective friend. In this episode she gets angry at the mere mention of Shax for reasons that I apparently missed. Riah just suddenly started hating Shax out of the blue, and it seems like the catalyst for this is the fact that Maha likes Ryok. But now she even seems to hate all the other members in the group too. I’m so confused. Riah used to be one of my favorite characters, but she’s been nothing but angry for the last three episodes and I can’t seem to enjoy her presence on screen much anymore. I hope that giving her more screen time as a part of the sub-plot romance might help with that. But it should never take a romance plot line for a character to be good.

Hyunji- She is absolutely suffering from her sub-plot romance and I can’t stand her anymore. She has no agency, she makes no decisions of her own, and she’s had no character development. And to add salt to the wound, the writers have decided that she wants to start acting more like Maha so that Yujin will like her. While this could lead to a teaching moment if done well, this show does not have a track record of doing this super well. And I’m also kind of tired of the ‘changing for your man’ storylines even if they are done to teach. Not only that, but we don’t even know who she is as a person yet because the show has focused so little on her. Her acting like Maha is only going to make that situation worse.

Dramatic Jealousy Scene- This was hilarious. My sister was actually watching this episode with me and we were both so absolutely baffled by the scene that we were almost speechless. Ryok confronts Yujin finally because apparently he just recognized who he was on set, for some reason, and questions him about the nature of his relationship with Maha. Yujin is respectful of Maha’s choices and tells Ryok that he used to like Maha (which isn’t entirely true) and that they’re only friends. He tells Ryok to watch his back, but still clarifies that he’s a friend. Throughout this scene there’s super dramatic music playing and Ryok looks close to tears. They also make a point of Ryok looking super angry after Yujin walks away. It was so ridiculous and so much more dramatic then it had to be for the subject matter. You would think that Yujin was telling Ryok that he was planning on killing Maha. It was that dramatic. This might be one of the most ridiculous scenes I’ve seen in a K-Drama.

The Romance- It’s moving much too fast. I feel like we should have gotten this texting thing a couple episodes ago to lead up to the kiss in this one. I’m not saying that episode seven was too soon for the kiss, because it’s definitely not. I’m saying that they dragged their feet forever to set up this relationship and then jumped in way too fast without much build up. Build up that they could have been doing before.

The Plot- It’s still all over the place and it still makes my head hurt thinking about it. If you’re expecting anything plot related with the K-Pop storyline in this, just don’t. The romance, for better or for worse, is now the only consistent thing about the entire show plot-wise. Everything else has come to a screeching halt and I’m not sure they’ll do anything with it anymore. It almost makes you wonder if there will be a season two because they are so far off from wrapping up any storylines. It feels like they haven’t even begun any of them. But then you look at how quickly the romance is moving and it doesn’t feel like they’re setting up for another season. Either way, I don’t think I’d watch a season two.

La Lima (Rima?)- Definitely a useless character. I have no idea what she’s doing here, but it feels like the show would be better off without her. She serves no purpose and is barely in the show. I still can’t wrap my head around the presence of this character.

Once again I will say, if you haven’t started watching this series I wouldn’t recommend it. If you want to give up on this series, I’m considering doing the same. Jongho is probably the only thing keeping me going at this point. There’s always something cute and enjoyable about each episode, but in the end I can’t help feeling like it’s a waste of time. At this rate, I’m not sure I care how it ends. I’m just getting my weekly dose of ATEEZ.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Marvel: ‘Loki’ Episode 2 Review

Screenshot of Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson from ‘Loki’ on Disney+. Copyright goes to The Walt Disney Company.

Hey! Hallie here!

Wow. This review is going to be incredibly spoilery right away so here’s your SPOILER WARNING. There are several expectations I had from the Loki series when it comes to future plot points, and as of this episode the series has covered nearly all of them. Loki facing his potential future including the deaths of his parents and himself. Loki learning about the destruction of Asgard. Loki discovering the whereabouts of his supposed variant. The introduction of Lady Loki (Maybe). The creation of a new multiverse. They’re going through so much as of right now that this series promises to be more than what it seems. Let’s go through what this episode revealed and the many, many, questions it raised as a result.

What I Liked:

Loki: As usual, Loki was incredible in this episode. Though he does want a better future for himself, as shown in the last episode, we all knew Loki would have an extra angle propelling him forward. Mobius wrongly assumes that Loki’s angle when agreeing to hunt down the variant of himself was simply to protect his ego. If Loki takes down the variant, he can prove himself the superior Loki. However, Loki makes it very clear that that isn’t his intention. He’s much more interested in the Timekeepers. He’s both skeptical that they exist and interested in their power. He appears to want to both prove that they don’t have the power they claim to have, and take up control over the timelines himself. I mean, we’re still dealing with post-‘Avengers’ Loki here. His obsession with power is basically at its peak. Part of Loki’s plan, as of what we know, is getting the dangerous variant of himself on his side. This seriously effects his first mission, where he stalls the TVA in the apparent hopes that his variant will see it as an act of good will and an opportunity to attack. He even uses this time to attempt to get the TVA to just take him to the timekeepers. Obviously Mobius sees right through this, realizes he’s stalling, and immediately takes him back to the TVA headquarters. But the scene is an excellent demonstration of how Loki is always unfolding some plan or another. When Loki returns to the TVA he immediately realizes that his lack of trustworthiness is not only getting him on thin ice with Mobius, but with TVA officials who are still advocating for his death. While he backpedals and complains as only Loki can, he genuinely starts to work on finding the Loki variant. Through a heartbreaking revelation through a file that his planet is destroyed in the main timeline, along with a catastrophic number of casualties, he’s even able to find where his variant is hiding.

What follows after this is a much more excitable and understanding Loki. Once he becomes excited by his own discovery, he’s enthusiastic to work with Mobius. He confesses that he loves being right, and you can see it in full swing here. He’s incredibly knowledgable about timelines because of TVA training, more so than most of the other employees at the TVA, and he’s almost giddy to prove his theories. I loved seeing him swing around in Pompeii, trying to be as obnoxious as possible to confirm that his variant is located in a disaster area. And his character came together completely when he finally faced his variant at the end of the episode. Loki propositions his variant to join him almost immediately, but his variant criticizes him for working with the TVA. There’s also a clear difference in empathy between the two of them. Anytime his variant moves her enchantment from one civilian to another, Loki becomes concerned. He even kneels down to make sure the TVA agent the variant takes control of is alright, which his variant makes fun of him for. After a while of talking, Loki becomes confused as to what this variant really wants. When things get violent he even begins to question whether or not the person he’s facing is a variant of himself. Despite his slowly changing outlook on the TVA, though, he accepts the variant’s subtle invitation to continue speaking with her and leaves Mobius behind. I get the feeling he has a plan, but we won’t know until the next episode. After all, he does love stabbing people in the back.

Mobius: Mobius is the disgruntled dad to Loki’s hyperactive, mischievous child. He still very much doesn’t trust Loki, but you can see that there’s a part of him that truly likes him. And Mobius isn’t stupid. He can read Loki like a book. When Loki begins to act out, Mobius compares him to a scared child. He admits the comment went a bit far later on, but he’s kind of right. Loki is frightened by the idea that he isn’t in control of his own life. It’s the main reason why he dislikes the Timekeepers and the TVA. Mobius can see that Loki dislikes being controlled by the TVA and he’s wary of him because of that. But he doesn’t treat him with contempt. He always encourages Loki to take advantage of his second chances. He even lets Loki completely ruin his salad to explain one of his theories, much to Mobius’ exasperation. I think my favorite moment in this episode occurred when Loki sat down with Mobius to discuss his beliefs. Mobius doesn’t take offense to any of Loki’s questions, even when he doesn’t know the answer. He’s also extremely straightforward. He does believe in the Timekeepers though he doesn’t know exactly how free will works within their operation. He believes he was created by the Timekeepers and that when they’re gone, he will be also, but he doesn’t know exactly when that will be. And even though the Timekeepers or the TVA might let him down in the end, you can’t help but admire his wisdom. I already love this character.

Miss Minutes: Miss Minutes appears in all her animated glory early in the episode to instruct Loki on the TVA and the timeline rules. She’s absolutely adorable. I loved how she was actually out on Loki’s desk, hopping around every time he tried to swipe at her. She feels like a living being. I can’t get enough of her.

What I Have Questions About:

Is it REALLY Lady Loki?: I came out of this episode disliking the Loki variant completely. I disliked it even more when they revealed Lady Loki is (Possibly) the variant they’re chasing. I couldn’t put my finger on why, though. I had guessed that the hooded figure was Lady Loki after I saw her hands in the first episode, and I was more excited than skeptical then. But after thinking back on this episode, I’m confident in saying my problem with it was the way the Loki variant was acting. There was no semblance of Loki there. Not at any point of the conversation. And when Loki commented that he would never treat himself this way, I realized that this might not even be Loki at all. So who is posing as a Loki variant? I’ve seen a lot of names being thrown around. One is Enchantress, a major Thor villain who also has a strong control over magic. The other is Sylvie, a character who takes up what is basically the title of the second Enchantress, but actually gets her powers from Loki. The Sylvie theory is circulating quite a bit because of the way the credits listed the character. Whatever the case I really do want Lady Loki in this show. Just maybe with more Loki characteristics.

Is This the Way the Multiverse Gets Created?: In the chaos of Loki’s confrontation with his supposed variant, the variant sets off multiple charges that begin to create splinters in the timeline. Once these splinters grow to a certain point, they can’t be undone. Meaning whoever this variant is managed to create the makings of a new multiverse all in one go. Is this what will lead to ‘Multiverse of Madness’? Or will something later in the series be the catalyst to the next Doctor Strange film?

Is the TVA Trustworthy?: I mentioned this in my last ‘Loki’ post but I want to mention it again. Between the holes Loki keeps poking into the TVA’s background and the suspiciously violent tendencies of its officials, are they trustworthy? With four episodes left I don’t think we’ve learned all we can about the TVA. And that scares me.

I love this series so far. My biggest fear for it at this point is the possibility that they may discard Mobius and Loki by the end of the series. After all, we all already believed that Loki’s story was over. This series could easily be the more satisfying closure to Loki’s story that ‘Infinity War’ lacked. But I don’t really want it to be. It’s giving us such good content that I want to see more of it in the future. I suppose we’ll have to see what happens as the series progresses.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: BTS Movies

Poster for ‘Break the Silence’. Copyright goes to Hybe Entertainment and BTS.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I have finally watched all of the BTS movies that have been released; specifically ‘Break the Silence’, ‘Burn the Stage’, and ‘Bring the Soul’. All of the movies were so different, which surprised me. It was really nice the way each movie was able to differentiate itself from the others. So in the interest of watching something in order to get over post concert depression and also to distract from BTS being disrespected yet again; let’s go over the movies the boys have put out so far!

‘Burn the Stage’ (2018):

This is the first of the movies they came out with and probably the most raw of all of them. I think most people knew that being an idol must be pretty difficult; but seeing it in this way brought it to an entirely different level. Not only do we see the boys preparing backstage, but we also see several injuries and health issues they suffered through. The most famous of which from this movie being the time when Jungkook almost passed out. The boys also show their arguments with each other; for example the argument between Tae and Jin. This also includes how they solve them. Namjoon really steps into his leader position for much of this movie when it comes to attempting to settle disputes, keeping the boys connected during concerts, and making sure the boys are ok when they’re upset. In that same vein, you can see better how they all work together behind the scenes. Jin and Hobi also take a lot of responsibility for the group, Yoongi is a calm voice of reason, and the maknae line add so much energy and laughter backstage that keeps everyone else energized. Along with the behind the scenes footage, we also get a confessional style section where each member talks about what they were feeling during different scenarios in the film. This in particular reveals how close they all are and how much one of them suffering in any way will effect them all. You can really see how close all of the boys are here.

‘Break the Silence’ (2020):

The style of this movie was very different from the first one. While ‘Burn the Stage’ has a fairly classic documentary style, this one focused on each individual member. It reveals what each member is often thinking while traveling and also a bit of what they do on their free time. They fully display Namjoon’s love for nature, Tae’s love for photography, and so much more when it comes to each member’s individual interests. This also has the rather infamous moment of Jimin looking out at a soccer field and commenting on how peaceful of a place it is. While this was a prelude to Jimin making some really nice points on how idols lives are different but not any better or worse than other people’s lives; he was hilariously teased relentlessly by the other members when they re-watched this movie. But I do feel like this movie is the one that goes the deepest into the struggles of fame, though it is definitely also mentioned in the other films. Jungkook in particular talks about how difficult it was to grow up with fame. The point here is that, though they may have fame and money they often can’t enjoy things most people find to be normal. I’m not sure anything has ever illustrated this point as much as this movie.

‘Bring the Soul’ (2019):

I’m putting this one last because this is the one I most recently watched. And by recently, I mean today. I have no idea why I watched the other ones and not this one, but I was finally able to correct this oversight. And I’m so glad that I did. This is the movie that features Jungkook getting the very large gash in his heel just before their London concert. I feel like these movies are often identified by which injury Jungkook got, and I really hope he takes it a little bit easier on himself! This movie also deals with the very real danger of artists catching travel colds during tours. This effects both Tae and Hobi and is something that I feel like most people don’t even consider. This is also the presence of comfort Jimin. I think we’ve seen it in all of the movies, but Jimin is always there when one of the members is going through something difficult. Hobi talks about how little they generally go outside, which was super important in adding perspective. Jin talks about how in South Korea they are able to go to the market, but overseas they can’t leave anywhere without security. We get to see adorable tired Yoongi throughout most of it. And both Tae and Namjoon are very adorable about giving words of wisdom and comfort. Namjoon talks about how there is just as much effort in doing the work and waiting between people who care for each other while Tae tells us all that he loves us more than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow. Their professionalism, especially Jungkook’s despite his injury, shines through. As well as all of the ups and downs of their lives that you usually don’t see. This is probably my favorite of the movies just because it wasn’t too invasive while still being very detailed. Over-all, I thought this one struck the best balance. You also get some really hilarious footage of the boys exercising and teasing each other!

Respect:

As we are reminded every week by racist journalists; BTS still are not respected enough for the work that they do. Much of that is complete ignorance. There are so many people who feel that all famous people are fair game because they’re rich, but these movies are perfect examples as to why none of that makes any sense. BTS works very hard and are very good at what they do. And much of the ire towards them are because of people’s refusal to accept cultures that aren’t their own. Our boys are some of the most hardworking people that I’ve ever seen. It’s up to you whether or not you like their music, but your opinion is never an excuse for absolute disrespect. As our leader and president Namjoon has said; “If you can’t respect, don’t even open your mouth.” I think that applies here.

I love our boys so much and I’m seriously just at this point where I will watch anything with them in it. I think part of our connection with them is because of how determined they are to prove to everyone else that they are real and normal people. Celebrities should be seen as normal people and many fans who don’t understand things like this will feel like their privacy is not important. I’m glad that they have cultivated a fandom who care more about things like their privacy and seeing them as human beings. But, if you take one thing from these movies regarding fan behavior, I would hope that it is not to approach them on the street. Hobi should not have to say “important business” to you for you to leave them alone. Sometimes they just want to feel normal. And they should be able to have that.

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie

Disney: Gaston and LeFou Spin Off Series

Screenshot of Josh Gad and Luke Evans from the live action remake of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Copyright goes to Walt Disney Studios.

Hey! Hallie here!

Recently we got the very interesting news that a new live action series is coming to Disney+. Live action remake haters beware. This series is a prequel to the live action remake of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ that came out a few years ago, and it will star Josh Gad and Luke Evans as LeFou and Gaston. Joining them is Briana Middleton who will play Tillie, LeFou’s step-sister. According to the description we’ve gotten so far, the trio will be going off on an adventure caused by a revelation about Tillie’s past. I, personally, don’t love live action remakes. But I don’t hate them either. With movies like ‘Cinderella’ it felt like the live action remake added a bit to the story. The original film is quite old and, while it still holds up, there are plenty of details it skips out on that the live action film was able to fill in and make better. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was one of the live action remakes I didn’t like as much. With Renaissance Disney films, the details were all filled in. Because of this, any remake covering these films is doomed to be unnecessary. On top of that, casting non-singing actors proved to be a major mistake. The autotune in the movie was obvious and bad. I didn’t hate this movie, but I definitely didn’t want a prequel series based off of it. I’m not completely convinced it’ll fall on it’s face, though. Let’s go through what might work and what I’m concerned about.

The Pros:

The Cast: Let’s be honest, Josh Gad and Luke Evans as LeFou and Gaston was the best part of the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ remake. For one, both of them could actually sing. There was little to no autotune present in the songs that heavily featured these two. They also had great on-screen chemistry. If anyone from this film was going to get a musical series, I’m glad it’s these two. On top of that, I’m excited about Briana Middleton’s inclusion. She hasn’t done too much on screen before her casting in this, but I look forward to seeing what she’ll do with her role. I’m also incredibly glad this series decided not to go with only two white men as its main characters. And Josh Gad will not only star in the series, but he will also be one of the writers. I feel Josh Gad will do an excellent job at taking up some of the writing responsibilities. The series will definitely have some nice humor with him working behind the scenes.

The Music: Alan Menken is back! Alan Menken composed the music for both the original ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and the remake, as well as a ton of other Disney movies. He’s a Disney legend. The composing is clearly safe in his hands. The lyric writing will be done by Glenn Slater, who did the lyrics for ‘Tangled’. I think the thing that makes me the most excited about this pairing is both of their involvement in the show ‘Galavant’. ‘Galavant’ was a fantasy, musical, comedy series that aired a few years ago. I loved the first season, and even when the second season dipped in quality, the music was hilarious. The feel of this series so far reminds me a lot of ‘Galavant’. The fact that Menken and Slater were responsible for the music there proves that they’re beyond qualified for this project.

The Cons:

The Writers: I already addressed my excitement around Josh Gad contributing to the writing. When it comes to the other writers behind the scenes, though, I’m hesitant. Edward Kistis and Adam Horowitz are the other main writers. These two ventured into the fantasy genre most famously with their work on ‘Once Upon a Time’. ‘Once Upon a Time’ wasn’t a bad series, but it never had the best writing. And it only got worse over time. I also don’t love that we’re seeing such a non-diverse group of writers. It’s long past time that we see more women and BIPOC behind the scenes. And for this series specifically, I would have hoped that they would at least bring in a LGBTQ+ writer into the writers room. Which leads into my next point.

LGBTQ+ Representation: LeFou in the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ remake marked Disney’s official first LGBTQ+ representation on the big screen. He starts out the film with an obvious crush on Gaston, complimenting and doting on him in every scene. Then, later in the film, LeFou begins to question Gaston’s actions. Continuing on with this change to the original story, LeFou notices that Gaston left him for dead during the final battle and decides to help the household objects fight off the villagers. After saving Mrs. Potts she tells him that he’s too good for Gaston, convincing him to move on. With LeFou’s change of heart solidified, he gets to join in during the major dance at the end of the film. Except he ends up accidentally partnering up with a male villager who was also queer-coded during the final battle. He doesn’t seem too disappointed with this outcome. Nothing here is explicit, but Disney publicly confirmed LeFou’s sexuality so they could pat themselves on the back. I know this series is a prequel, but if they don’t go into LeFou’s sexuality it’ll be an even bigger slap in the face. LeFou’s sexuality was already way too subtle in the live action remake for it to count as any sort of major progress. It’s questionable to cast someone like Josh Gad as a LGBTQ+ character (See James Corden’s current career). But it would be deplorable for them to ignore LeFou’s identity again. I’m nervous to see what they’ll do for this series. With Disney’s record, I can only see them disappointing the LGBTQ+ community again.

Louie?: Apparently they decided LeFou’s name shouldn’t be LeFou so they changed it to Louie. I don’t have any major problems with this but…why Louie?

I obviously have some concerns. No one really asked for a prequel. We didn’t need to know how Gaston and LeFou’s friendship came to be. Especially because Gaston is so notoriously sexist that most wouldn’t want to see him as a main character, anyways. And with its ties to the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ remake, which wasn’t fabulous, it’s even more eyebrow raising. But I see some promise in it. Between the cast and the music it could be incredible. But that’s only if they manage to avoid the major issues that are already getting Disney negative attention.

Don’t do anything fun until I get back!

Hallie

K-Pop and K-Dramas: BTS Muster, Sowoozoo Day 2

Photo of (from left) Kim Namjoon (RM), Kim Seokjin, Jeon Jungkook, Park Jimin, Min Yoongi (Suga), Jung Hoseok (J-Hope), and Kim Taehyung (V) from Day 2 of Sowoozoo. Copyright goes to BTS, Hybe Entertainment, and BTS’s social media accounts.

Hi! It’s Annie!

I have never done it before and wasn’t sure I would be able to make it, but I have officially watched both days of a BTS online concert that both began at 2:30 AM in California. Is my sleep schedule absolutely screwed up now? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Hell yeah! I honestly never thought I’d pull an all nighter like this until I discovered BTS and I’m so glad I did. I had so much fun with this concert that I probably very much needed. I was definitely tired by the time I got to this concert though, and that happened with pretty much everyone that I watched it with. By the second day we were all still enjoying ourselves, but the energy dipped. But we still had such a good time!

Multiple Angles:

Before I get into what actually happened during the concert, I want to address the multiple camera angles. An option for tickets for Sowoozoo was to buy a view with multiple camera angles of the boys throughout the concert rather than just the main one. Obviously, this cost more money and when I originally saw this I wasn’t tempted to purchase it, but I honestly didn’t think too much on it either. Now that people that bought multi-view are sharing their footage, the cameras did some good things for the concert. For example, showing exactly who was running after who and nailing who with water during both performances of “So What”. There were a couple technical difficulties that the cameras showed. One of the rover cameras on stage bumped into Hobi’s knees pretty hard. But some of them revealed that the boys were probably not told about the option for fans to watch the multi-view version of the concert. I personally am not going to talk about exactly what people saw when the boys didn’t think the cameras were on them. It wasn’t like they did anything bad or weird, but they seemed to be under the impression that they were essentially off-stage. Sometimes that meant adjusting costumes and attempting to make themselves presentable in ways that some ARMY found funny or potentially embarrassing. While there was nothing groundbreaking here, I personally was not sure I liked the idea of their privacy being invaded in this way. I don’t blame anyone who bought the multi-view tickets. I doubt any of them were aware of the possibility that the boys hadn’t been told about this ticket option. But I personally believe they should have been able to take care of their appearances and prepare for the next song in peace. Or in the very least have been told about what the multi-view option entailed.

Same Songs:

Much of the songs performed were the same as yesterday, so I’m going to talk about the small differences between the performances here. The first three songs were exactly the same and felt like they had a lot of the same amazing energy from yesterday. “Life Goes On” started out calmly and went very well into “Butter” which then went into “Dynamite (Tropical Remix)”. The costumes for these were also the same, but their hair styles definitely differed today. Jungkook and Jimin flipped hairstyles. Jimin’s hair was pushed back and looked a bit less cute than yesterday whereas Jungkook’s bangs were on full display and made him look a little more boyish. I love both for both members so I absolutely loved seeing the different sides here. Hobi had his signature “Dynamite” look which always absolutely slays. They all looked amazing! I will say I found that “Stay” with Namjoon, Jungkook, and Jin was a bit more mellow for day two while “Fly to My Room” seemed to be slightly more high-energy and bouncy. It was such a small difference over-all, but it was interesting to see how each group switched up their performance for the second day. Of course there were several other songs that were the same, some more from ‘Be’ and things like that, but I feel like my sister covered more of that in her post yesterday. They were just as good both days and I loved watching all of it!

“Film Out” and Talking:

They performed “Film Out” while sitting down. Just before this they each talked about their solo songs and each sang part of theirs respectively. Hobi sang “Blue Side”, Jimin sang “Promise”, I believe Namjoon was singing ‘Bicycle’ but it was hilariously difficult to tell because he was a bit nervous and started singing it a bit more jokingly, Jungkook sang “Still With You”, Yoongi gave us a bit of “People”, Jin sang “Abyss”, and Tae tried to sing “Winter Bear” but he couldn’t remember the melody because he’s been working so hard on his new mixtape! I honestly don’t blame him, but it was funny watching the members poke fun at him. Then they went into “Film Out” which was beyond amazing to hear live. All of their vocals were perfect and they all put so much emotion into that song. Not only that, but they all seemed so excited to share it with us!

“So What”:

“So What” was definitely fun yesterday. Of course, we got the absolutely adorable clip of Kookie and Tae chasing each other around with water bottles. But yesterday the water was a little more tame and the battle took place mostly between the Maknae line and Jin. Today, the entire group got in on the action. They said towards the beginning of the concert that it was really hot that day, which probably had more to do with the absolutely out of control water fight that occurred today. Yoongi probably got the least wet by the end of it. Everybody else was absolutely soaked. Jimin was wearing what looked like a suit jacket that had very obvious water marks by the end of it. There was a hilarious bit where Jin stopped singing to shout in fear at Hobi who was chasing after him with a water bottle, laughing. Every time Jin tried to hit Hobi with water he was intercepted by Jungkook or Tae. Jimin often got hit in the crossfire. Namjoon even got in on the fun and his hair was so soaked by the end of it that Namjoon actually did the famous Yoongi hair sweep featuring water. I absolute died for obvious reasons. Jimin also finished the song getting particularly close to Yoongi, which was adorable. I don’t think I have ever laughed this hard during a concert! It was absolute chaos in the absolute best way!

“Chicken Noodle Soup”:

We were all hoping for this one and boy did they deliver. Instead of the OT7 “Daechwita” from the first day, we got OT7 “Chicken Noodle Soup”. And I absolutely loved everything about this! The boys spent quite a bit of it cruising around in cars. We got to see all of them do the dance. Yoongi in particular looked like he was having so much fun with it! I can’t get over their outfits for CNS! Hobi’s outfits were some of the best we’ve ever seen during these concert days, and his CNS outfit had to be one of my favorite Hobi looks of all time. And he looked so happy leading the rest of them! Of course, some of the biggest standouts here were Namjoon and Jimin who trended together after they covered Becky G’s Spanish section of the song. Everyone I was watching this with practically screamed at that point. Everything about this performance was amazing. And to all the solo stans who suddenly had a problem with Yoongi not performing singularly but did not with Hobi; just get out if you can’t enjoy the concert. I know that sounds harsh, but the boys have always loved sharing their music with each other. And the double standards are also ridiculous.

Encore:

I loved seeing them all wear the concert tees and switch up the ones they wore based on the night. Of course, we all had to get tees afterwards! Today Namjoon, Tae, and Hobi were all wearing knit chicken hats, probably because of CNS. It was adorable and they all seemed to be twice as goofy with them on. They eventually got Yoongi to put one on, but he very cutely made a face and took it off before he thanked ARMY for their support. Tae was very honest about how much they had been struggling and they all got a bit more emotional this night. Of course, they closed out with “Mikrokosmos” which is one of their most comforting songs.

Fireworks:

Watching BTS leave is always sad, but seeing them all smile even more at the fireworks tonight was heartwarming. It really felt like they were sharing a moment with ARMY while all of us were looking up at the fireworks. It was definitely an emotional moment.

BTS News:

For those of you who didn’t click off immediately after the concert ended, we saw the news video that also appeared on BTS’s Twitter this morning. This seemed to be a promotional bit for the announcement of a new track that will be appearing on the upcoming “Butter” album. Either way, hearing Namjoon and Jin’s hilarious voice over made leaving the concert just the slightest bit more bearable.

Well, post concert depression is a real thing. Though I’m not sure I’ve even been able to fully comprehend it due to how tired I am today! Though I loved their last concert, I think watching this one with a group made the experience even better for me. And even the boys seemed to like it better! They talked about how performing inside for their last concert was stifling, but performing outside for this one gave them new energy because they perform most in outside arenas on tour. Tae said that his favorite day was today because it took him a while to get in the swing of things. I totally get that, but I’m going to have to give it to yesterday for me. Part of that was probably because I was less tired then; but screaming the lyrics to ‘Daechwita’ will always be a great memory for me. Especially because of the huge plot twist of the premiere rap songs being performed OT7. I just can’t wait to hopefully see them live in person one day!

See you across the pond!

Sincerely, Annie